The men’s and women’s edition of The Hundred, England’s league in the shortest format of the game, will have an auction in place to sign players instead of the draft from the 2026 season onwards. The 100-ball league follows the footsteps of ILT20 to have an IPL-like process in place to sign players. The introduction of the auction process is a part of the board’s attempts to hit the restart button after eight teams will be fully or partially owned by foreign investors.
The Hundred to have IPL-like auction from 2026
As per ESPNCricinfo, the auction for the men’s and women’s The Hundred tournaments will take place in March 2026. The report states that the overall salary pot for the men’s and women’s competition will be hiked by 45% and 100% respectively. The total amount that the men’s teams can spend per season has been increased from £1.2 million to £2.05 million while the women’s teams are allowed to spend £880,000. The report states that the teams will have minimum spend per season in place apart from the introduction of salary collars.
The report claims that the number of overseas players in the squad will be raised from 3-4, subject to the Home Office’s clearance. There will be Right to Match cards available for the franchises but teams are allowed to directly sign two overseas and centrally-contracted English players each. This can happen during mid-November to mid-January.
In addition to that, the report states that, “the Hundred Board has also approved the retention of the wildcard system which will allow two players per franchise to be selected from the T20 Blast, via a player draft in June 2026.”
| No of singings | Men’s (Amount) | Women’s (Amount) |
| 1 | £350k | £130k |
| 2 | £650k | £240k |
| 3 | £850k | £310k |
| 4 | £950k | £360k |
Editor's Pick
Cricket
Gautam Gambhir confirms Shubman Gill's availability for India vs South Africa T20Is
Top Stories
